Finally moved on
To Xian! In a train with only Chinses speakers, all of us sleeping in top bunks in 6 people berths with no door. Again, a lot of people, so not so much sleep. Didn't help that we got to Xian at 3.30 in the morning either....Got to the hostel and continued life as in Beijing - ie doing very little... At least until the dampness of the cellar really got to us, and we changed for penthouse suite.... (6 person dorm up top).
Sharing with Marc and Michelle, and convinced them to stay with us for another 2 weeks or so!!! Promised to take them to see the panda babies, so how could they say no?
In the afternoon we managed to leave the hostel to eat at a supermarket we had had recommended. Weird place with lots of little stalls to pick and choose from (was great until half of us got diarrhoea the next day). After that we went on to the muslim quarters for souvenir shopping and beer. And amazingly it happened again!! We ran into someone we know!!! Spanna this time. I thought she was in SE Asia, but no, she is sharing room with Kat that we met in St Petersburg. So so funny, Kat had only the night before told Spanna about these random vets she met in Russia... Mini mini world.
The next morning Caroline, Michelle and I went off to see the terracotta boys. Luckily we had been warned that they were very hyped up, so we were actually quite impressed!!! Crazy crazy emperor that had them made. The whole day turned into a bit of a tourist session as they convenietly stopped by 3 different "museums" (souvenir shops) on the way there and back... Left at 10.00 in the morning and returned 17.30 - spent about 2 hours in terracotta land which is about 1 hours drive away. Very long day.
Then out to meet Spanna + Kat and eat hotpot. Much fun food. You get a bowl with 2 compartments filled with different sauces which is heated over a gas flame. Then you get lots of different veg/meat and cook it yourself. Very tasty result, and even far would be happy to eat it as you could make sure yourself that it was cooked all through!!!
After that we had our first bottle of wine. Chinese wine. Very fruity I think were the words used to describe it. Still a nice change from all the beer.
And there are good news for the families - we have sent packages!!! The Otteren crew should hopefully get theirs in about 20 days (almost in time for mors birthday), whilst the Neales have to wait 2 months for the boat to get to UK... We feel very clever for having started the Christmas presents already though!! The other good news is that Doris (guinea pig) is recovering very well from her surgery to remove mammary lumps - thank you very very much Lindsey.
Now off to Chendgu and pandas!!!
posted by Guro @ 09:11
2 Comments:
åååå.... legg ut bilder av Panda!! :-)
Eller snakke de sånn som i Indonesia så sier de vel Fanta beer... hihihi
I oslo og feirer Gry sin bursdag nå. Bare bli ferdig med denne kjedelige fredagen først!
God helg!
Good to hear that you are both well and sound (though, not mentioning a busy stomac). I guess this is "real" travelling, somthing like discovering unkown land. Very exciting !! And yes, I think I would prefer the gas burner for cooking. That's actally a goood idea, to bring along one of those we use for prepering skis (tell Caroline about that). In addition to the vodca of course!
I am still offshore, hearly 14 days now (but the cooking here is OK) ! Anyway, everything is well and I look forward to some days off. So, take care and enjoy yourself. Love and hugs from far.
PS. Also looking forward to further travelling letters.
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